Maoists bid to take over Chhattisgarh

Maoist rebels, who are now observing Jan Pituri Saptah, meaning revolutionary week, in Chhattisgarh, have blown up power lines and disrupted communication links, targeting industries and power stations in the Abhujmar and Bastar regions and plunging much of the state into darkness.
The Maoists, who had declared a parallel government some time back, were now trying to move from the jungles to urban areas. The blast at Durg on June 8, in which three CRPF jawans were killed, and the attack on the Bishrampur police station are clear signals that they are pushing towards urban areas.

There were intelligence inputs that the Maoists were trying to teach Hindi to their Gondi-speaking red cadres from south Bastar as it was getting difficult for them to interact with Maoist leaders from Andhra Pradesh. The top leadership of the CPI (Maoist) is run by Andhra cadres.
The so-called soft targets attacked by the Maoists included the Essar Steel Plant at Kirandul in Bastar. The Maoists had set the plant and 20 trucks inside on fire. Last year, while observing the Jan Pituri week, the Maoists had plunged the entire Bastar region into darkness for almost a fortnight.